1.—15.

Further liability has been placed on the Fund by the compulsory retirement of members with thirty-five years' service, and the Government has used the Fund for the purpose of facilitating retrenchment, and there again the State must accept its share of the responsibility. (Paragraphs 1424 and 1438.) The Commission again refers to the State's obligations in paragraph 1430, which states, inter alia, Actually it was the duty of the State to make suitable provision to meet the initial liability cast on the funds ..." The State, however, adopted the plan of postponement, and such postponed liabilities have up to the present been only partly liquidated. The result is that the liabilities for annuities arising from service prior to the initiation of the funds is now being met from current contributions of employees. In paragraph 1431 it is pointed out that the continued failure to meet the State's obligations has resulted in the rapid growth of the deficiencies, amounting to the extent of £6,810,204 in 1927 in the Railways Fund alone, or a total of £18,117,772 in all funds. Paragraph 1434 again brings into prominence the State's liability in the following remarkable manner. "It seems clear that the actuarial liability of the Government in respect of the three funds is approximately £23,000,000." Coming to paragraph 1437, the Commission states, " The very essence of a sound scheme is the accumulation of the sums contributed by the employees for the purpose of meeting the portion of current and future liabilities for which they were intended, and it is largely in this respect that the otherwise satisfactory schemes of the Government have become unsound." The foregoing paragraphs clearly indicate that there was never any doubt in the minds of the Economy Commission where the responsibility for the present state of the funds lay. An impartial review of the position could not possibly lead to any other conclusion. I pointed out that the Commission's sole object was the cutting-down of State expenditure, and in spite of the fact that paragraph after paragraph reveals the fact that the State has utterly and completely failed to fulfil its obligations right from the very inauguration of the funds until the present day, culminating in a total actuarial deficit of £9,000,000 in the Railways Fund (or £23,000,000 in all funds), the Commission, and the Bill before the Committee, proposes to repudiate that responsibility, to relieve the State of meeting its just and proven debt to the Superannuation Fund, and to escape its liabilities by further increasing the burden on contributors and annuitants. The Commission has very definitely expressed in words the failure of the State to fulfil its obligations, and in order that a clearer view of the position may be obtained at a glance I submit the following table showing the contributions (and donations) of members, together with the contributions of the State since 1903, and the excess receipts over expenditure of the Consolidated Fund since 1908.

4—l. 15.

49

V«.r ! Contributions of „ , ., Surplus or Deficit Year " Members. Subsxd y- r", l solidated Fund. | ~~ £ s. d. £ s. d. £ 1903 .. .. 3,433 5 1 1904 .. .. 39,788 16 1905 .. .. 43,386 19 6 1906 .. .. 42,790 3 9 1907 .. .. 43,933 17 5 1908 .. .. 45,669 0 9 .. 850,024 1909 .. .. 64,934 11 8 .. 106,654 1910 .. .. 58,946 16 10 .. 247,995 1911 .. .. 60,870 6 3 25,000 0 0 954,167 1912 .. .. 59,454 18 11 25,000 0 0 720,792 1913 .. .. 66,847 12 4 25,000 0 0 652,232 1914 .. .. 71,692 14 7 25,000 0 0 392,397 1915 .. .. 75,034 1 9 50,000 0 0 72,142 1916 .. .. 78,403 3 8 25,000 0 0 2,017,030 1917 .. .. 83,003 7 5 25,000 0 0 4,308,777 1918 .. .. 81,249 15 4 25,000 0 0 5,085,934 1919 .. .. 78,619 17 11 25,000 0 0 3,678,773 1920 .. .. 103,845 17 5 75,000 0 0 2,299,416 1921 .. .. 122,532 5 9 75,000 0 0 6,192,232 1922 .. .. i 135,008 15 4 75,000 0 0 339,831* 1923 .. ..I 128,941 19 1 75,000 0 0 1,315,683 1924 .. .. 133,153 8 2 125,000 0 0 1,812,365 1925 .. .. 144,777 9 8 105,000 0 0 1,243,800 1926 .. .. 153,902 19 9 170,000 0 0 1,155,679 1927 .. .. 157,784 14 0 170,000 0 0 587,142 1928 .. .. 158,600 15 9 170,000 0 0 179,076 1929 .. .. 166,439 3 3 170,000 0 0 577,252* 1930 .. .. 175,872 3 0 170,000 0 0 148,979 1931 .. .. 170,685 10 10 170,000 0 0 1932 .. 142,239 3 7 170,000 0 0 Totals .. 2,891,842 6 3 1,970,000 0 0 33,961,298 ___ 917,083* nofioif